Salsa Sunday: Breakfast Salsa

Hey all!

So I just realized that I completely forgot last weeks Salsa Sunday Post! How DARE I!!! Sorry about that...time can get away from me sometimes. So this Sunday I will have two posts for you. Lets start out with the salsa I made the family for breakfast this morning. It is FRESH, simple and quick to make...all my favorite things when I am still trying to wake up in the morning.

BREAKFAST SALSA

1.5 cups of Tomato cut in large pieces.

1/2 cup of cilantro diced

1/4 cup of diced red onion

salt and lime to taste (I used garlic salt)

Optional: Diced jalapeno if you need some spice

Tools: Blender, hand mixer or food processor, strainer

Here I am using Roma tomatoes, but any tomato will do.

Place in your blender and.

Pulse till you get it chopped up but not pureed.

Strain out some of the liquid.

Now your fresh tomatoes are ready to go!

Dice up that cilantro. Oh the kitchen smells good!

And dice up that red onion...

Mix it together and add your lime and salt to taste and you are ready to put it on these babies...

Breakfast soft tacos? Yes please! YUM! Obviously this salsa can be used on other meals as well. It is a great salsa; and when tomato season starts your going to need all the recipes you can get your hands on!

              Buen Provecho!

~Misguided Maiden

I Can Count To Ten - 123 Art Wall Tutorial

Hey All...

Its been quite a week! Between work and two nights of evening public meetings I have had no time to post on the blog. When things get busy with work all my extra time goes straight to my boys (Hubby and David) and home obligations (tending to animals and general items on the ranch).

Now that I have some of my work items out of the way, as well as taxes (ugh...), I can happily get back to a little me time. So with that I was finally able to finish the second piece of artwork/educational tool for my sons room.

The first piece of artwork was the ABC Wall and it was a whole lot of fun. But I have to say...this one was just as fun and I got to paint with some color! What did I pursue you ask?

Since David is happily learning his ABC's everyday I wanted to add his 123's in the mix...so here we go!

1 2 3 Wall

First you need your supplies:

Watercolor or Bristol Paper

Your choice of paint & colors

Brushes of varying sizes

3M Command Fasteners

10 Matching Frames

Your Numbers (Font Type and Size) you will be using

This is the color palette I went for...something bright like the frames on the ABC Wall. I also wanted to put some focus on complimentary colors.

To get the correct size of paper for each frame I used a piece of the glass from within a frame and traced out ten pieces and cut them out.

Then I used the frames to set the perimeter so I knew what was not going to show. Then I drew out the numbers lightly with a pencil. You can also place print behind the paper and trace in a bright window.

Then you get to painting. At some point I thought I had the great idea of just painting the background color completely over the number. Yeah....that only worked for the numbers with yellow backgrounds. The others...not so much. So my advice would be this: If your background is darker then yellow, paint around the numbers and keep them white!

After a few coats these numbers really POP! Now its time to hang up these beauties!

Here is the wall. I want the 123 artwork to be very structured and grid-like vs. the ABC artwork which is more chaotic. I brightened up the picture above and below...because it was a bit dark at the time these pics were taken.

So here it is on the wall. Very clean and streamlined but with amazingly bright colors!

Now lets learn to count to Ten!

The first time David saw this he wanted me to count the numbers over and over again!

Now on to the next piece! I hope you are inspired to create! This was a immensely fun project and the end results were very rewarding for this mama.

                                     Much Love,

~ Misguided Maiden

Easter 2012

So this year's Easter was low key. I LOVED IT! Just me, my hubby, David and our brood of animals. After church (which we left early due to our poor teething boy) we came home, finished our half-prepared dinner from the night before and relaxed and played with David.

One of the unexpected items of the day came early in the morning...David and I were up and hanging out while Daddy got a little extra shut-eye. When BAM! A little bird hit the kitchen window. I quickly went outside to see if the little bird was OK or dead...well he was OK (whew!) but pretty shaken up and in need of some care.

So I woke up my hubby and had him watch David while I blanketed the little bird to calm it down (wish I got pictures of this....stinking hindsight). Then after a few minutes I picked up the little bird and perched it on my finger, allowing it to catch it breath. I inspected the wings and tail and found everything to be in good order.

As the little bird was perched on my finger David got a close-up of his current favorite thing...BIRDS. Of course this was on the other side of a sliding-glass window. This safety measure was for the bird of course.

After awhile, the little bird flew off and allowed me to get a snap-shot or two of it (as payment I'm sure) before he rejoined its friends with one tall tale to tell them!

So I hope your Easter had a little adventure it as well as ours. Between the bird and wrestling kitties we certainly had some adventure here!

                               Happy Wrestling!

~ Misguided Maiden

Salsa Sunday: Cantaloupe Salsa

Happy Easter to you all! Today was a nice relaxing day. Just me and my little family. More on this in another post though; because its about the get fruity in here...

Cantaloupe  is probably one of my favorite mild fruits. Don't get me wrong now... I am a fan of all melons but this one was my first love (as far as melons go). So I was making a light fish dinner tonight... and what better topping than a light/mild cantaloupe salsa?

CANTALOUPE SALSA

1/2 of a large cantaloupe, diced

1/2 of a bunch of cilantro, diced

1/4 - 1/2 of a red onion, diced

lime and salt to taste

Optional: Diced Jalapeno to your liking,

Sugar if your cantaloupe was a bad pick (this can happen)

Now try to get a cantaloupe that is sweet but not over-ripe. This can be harder said than done. I employ the knocking method. If you lightly knock on the melon and you hear a small noise then you have got a decent melon. No noise? Put that melon back and walk away...slowly.

Chop up that cilantro! Use your stems! I hear some people don't so I thought I would mention that they have the majority of your cilantro flavor. 

Look at how things are coming along. I am already salivating...

Get your onion diced...

And get your lime ready...

Then stir in all your ingredients, taste, add lime, salt, or other items and taste till it is to your liking! Enjoy! 

I know I did. 

                  Buen Provecho!

~ Misguided Maiden

It has arrived!!!

Anxiously waiting for treats to come in the mail has never been my strong suit. But hey who does not like to get things in the mail? This came in two days ago to bring me much cheer!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are multiple uses for this fabulous thread. Here are two that I am definitely going to try out:

Landee See, Landee Do

 How about this fabulous tutorial from Landee See, Landee Do? This looks like a fun project and a great Easter/Spring decoration!

Creature Comforts

Or use bakers twine for these adorable luminaries from Creature Comforts!

You can also use bakers twine for wrapping gits, to make tags for gits, to use on invitations and so much more! I think it just adds a little something to a project...don't you think?

I picked this grouping up from a very cool shop called the Twinery. I can't wait to experiment with it!

                                        Much Love,

~ Misguided Maiden

Easter: simple dEGGoration

Easter is only days away and with all that is going on with work, wife and mommy duties things have been a bit tight as far as time goes for me. Besides my husband & son (and work obligations) everything else can honestly wait. However, that does not mean I can't squeeze in a few moments of simple creativity here and there. I mean...a mom has to have a least a few minutes to enjoy things ya enjoy!

That is why I love projects like this. It is simple (really a 10 minute project...if that), makes something pretty, and its the kind of work that you can just tune out for a few minutes (even the brain needs a break...).

So I must admit, I have not purchased plastic Easter eggs for years. When did they come with the holes? This takes care of the venting issues of the past i guess...

So with the holes came my simple idea which has probably been thought of already, but hey...I'm a mom behind the times here!

You take your fancy ribbon from the dollar barrel. And...

Viola! You have something!

Hang it around the house, or in my case on my dried walnut tree branches in the fancy vase. We got alot of these branches...yeah...

Add some extra bows, because everything can use an extra bow or two!

10 minutes (or less) later you have a simple Easter decoration for the dining table and you've shut off that brain for a few moments. WIN WIN!!!

                                    Happy Hopping!

~ Misguided Maiden

Salsa Sunday: Chile Verde Salsa

Hey all...another one of those weeks where you are just scraping by. Fortunately there are things that can make my life a bit happier for two reasons: One, because it is tasty and Two, because it takes all of two minutes to make. When I need to make a quick salsa to compliment a meal or for a tasty snack with chips; this would be my "go to" salsa.

Chile Verde Salsa

One small can of Chile Verde sauce

1/4 cup of cilantro

1/4 of a jalapeno, diced very small

Salt and lime to taste

Hormel Foods

This is the type of Salsa Verde I use as the base for a quick salsa. You can also make your own homemade Chile Verde Sauce. I will show this in another post. If you have that then you can use a cup of your own creation.

Add all of your ingredients into a bowl (lime inserted for show...that showy lime!).

Stir your ingredients, add your lime and salt to taste...

And have a snack! After all...you've earned it.

                                         Buen Provecho!

~ Misguided Maiden